Isaiah 34:6

Isa 34:6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, [and] with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.

Ver. 6. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, &c.] That is, It maketh clean work, as the blood and fat were in sacrifices consumed, {Lev 1:16-17} and this execution was no less pleasing to God than some solemn sacrifice.

For the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah.] The metropolis of Idumea; Ptolemy calleth it Botsra. And it prefigured Rome, saith Piscator, the chief city and seat of Antichrist’s kingdom.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

34:6 Bozrah was a city in Edom, southeast of the Dead Sea.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That is, both of young and old, poor and rich of his enemies.

That famous city shall be consumed as a sacrifice burnt to ashes.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

filled--glutted. The image of a sacrifice is continued.

blood . . . fat--the parts especially devoted to God in a sacrifice (Sa2 1:22).

lambs . . . goats--sacrificial animals: the Idumeans, of all classes, doomed to slaughter, are meant (Zep 1:7).

Bozrah--called Bostra by the Romans, &c., assigned in Jer 48:24 to Moab, so that it seems to have been at one time in the dominion of Edom, and at another in that of Moab (Isa 63:1; Jer 49:13, Jer 49:20, Jer 49:22); it was strictly not in Edom, but the capital of Auranitis (the Houran). Edom seems to have extended its dominion so as to include it (compare Lam 4:21).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 6. The Lord hath a sacrifice - "For JEHOVAH celebrateth a sacrifice"] Ezekiel, Eze 39:16-17, has manifestly imitated this place of Isaiah. He hath set forth the great leaders and princes of the adverse powers under the same emblems of goats, bulls, rams, fatlings, c., and has added to the boldness of the imagery, by introducing God as summoning all the fowls of the air, and all the beasts of the field, and bidding them to the feast which he has prepared for them by the slaughter of the enemies of his people: -

"And thou, son of man,

Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH,

Say to the bird of every wing,

And to every beast of the field:

Assemble yourselves, and come

Gather together from every side,

To the sacrifice which I make for you,

A great slaughter on the mountains of Israel.

And ye shall eat flesh and drink blood:

The flesh of the mighty shall ye eat,

And the blood of the lofty of the earth shall ye drink;

Of rams, of lambs, and of goats,

Of bullocks, all of them the fat ones of Bashan;

And ye shall eat fat, till ye are cloyed,

And drink blood, till ye are drunken;

Of my slaughter, which I have slain for you."

The sublime author of the Revelation, Re 19:17-18, has taken this image from Ezekiel, rather than from Isaiah.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(6) The Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah . . .—Two cities of this name appear in history; one in the Haurân, more or less conspicuous in ecclesiastical history, and the other, of which Isaiah now speaks, in Edom. It was a strongly fortified city, and is named again and again. (Comp. Isa_63:1; Amo_1:12; Jer_49:13; Jer_49:22.) The image both of the sword and the sacrifice appears in Jer_46:10.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. The sword of the Lord is filled] Render: A sword hath Jehovah which is filled, &c.

made fat with fatness] Or, “greased with fat” (different words in the original). The Edomites are compared to sacrificial animals; cf. Zep_1:7; Jer_46:10; Jer_51:40; Eze_39:17 ff. (See also 2Sa_1:22.)

Bozrah (ch. Isa_63:1; Gen_36:33; Amo_1:12; Jer_49:13; Jer_49:22) was a chief city of Edom, certainly not a place of that name in the Hauran; more probably El-Buṣeira, south of the Dead Sea; but Wetzstein identifies it with Petra.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The sword of the Lord is filled with blood,.... Multitudes being slain by it; the "Lord" here is that divine Person that is described as a warrior, as a General of an army, with a sharp sword, by whom many are slain, such a number as that it is filled with the blood of them, Rev 19:11,

it is made fat with fatness: not only filled with the blood, but fattened by it; the allusion is to ravenous creatures gorged and sated with the blood of others, and thereby made fat; perhaps this may refer to Christian princes, the sword in the hand of the Lord, who shall be enriched with the plunder and spoil of the antichristian states:

and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. The Targum is,

"with the blood of kings and governors, with the fat of the kidneys princes;''

and Jarchi interprets them, of princes and rulers; but rather the common people are designed, or the common soldiers in the army, or however the inferior officers of it; kings, princes, and generals, being intended in the following verse Isa 34:7. It denotes the great carnage of all sorts and ranks of men made at this time, and which is described in Rev 19:18,

for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea: there seems to be two Bozrahs the Scripture speaks of, the one in Moab, Jer 48:24 and another in Edom, Isa 63:1 which is here meant, and was a chief city of the Edomites, and signifies a fortress, being no doubt a place well fortified; this is the Bostra of Ptolemy (k), and which he places in Arabia Petraea. Aben Ezra says that some interpret it of Constantinople, the metropolis of the Ottoman empire; but it is best to understand it of Rome, as Menasseh ben Israel (l) does, and Idumea of the whole Roman jurisdiction; Rome being the chief city of the antichristian states, that great city, which John in his Revelation describes as reigning over the kings of the earth; here and in all the antichristian kingdoms will be a great "slaughter" of men, called a "sacrifice" of the Lord, because by his order and direction, and for the honour of his justice, and being acceptable to him; and perhaps there may be an allusion to the blood sacrifices being the Lord's; this slaughter and sacrifice is called the supper of the great God, Rev 19:17.

(k) Geograph. l. 5. c. 17. (l) Spes Israelis, sect. 30. p. 91.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The sword of the Lord is filled with blood - The idea here is taken from the notion of sacrifice, and is, that God would devote to sacrifice, or to destruction, the inhabitants of Idumea. With reference to that, he says, that his sword, the instrument of slaughter, would be satiated with blood. “It is made fat with fatness.” The allusion here is to the sacrifices which were made for sin, in which the blood. and the fat were devoted to God as an offering (see Lev. 7)

With the blood of lambs and goats - These were the animals which were usually offered in sacrifice to God among the Jews. and to speak of a sacrifice was the same as to speak of the offering of rams, lambs, bullocks, etc. Yet it is evident that they denote here the people of Idumea, and that these terms are used to keep up the image of a sacrifice. The idea of sacrifice was always connected with that of slaughter, as the animals were slaughtered before they were offered. So here, the idea is, that there would be a great slaughter in Idumea; that it would be so far of the nature of a sacrifice that they would be devoted to God and to his cause. It is not probable that any particular classes of people are denoted by the different animals mentioned here, as the animals here mentioned include all, or nearly all those usually offered in sacrifice, the expressions denote simply that all classes of people in Idumea would be devoted to the slaughter. Grotius, however, supposes that the following classes are intended by the animals specified, to wit, by the lambs, the people in general; by the goats, the priests; by the rams, the opulent inhabitants.

For the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah - Bozrah is mentioned here as one of the chief cities of Idumea. It was a city of great antiquity, and was known among the Greeks and Romans by the name of Bostra. It is generally mentioned in the Scriptunes as a city of the Edomites Isa 63:1; Jer 49:13, Jer 49:22; Amo 1:12; but once it is mentioned as a city of Moab Jer 48:24. It probably belonged at different periods to both nations, as in their wars the possession of cities often passed into different hands. Bozrah lay southeast of Edrei, one of the capitals of Bashan, and was thus not properly within the limits of the Edomites, but was north of the Ammonites, or in the region of Auranitis, or in what is now called tho Houran. It is evident, therefore, that in the time of Isaiah, the Edomites had extended their conquests to that region.

According to Burckhardt, who visited the Houran, and who went to Bozrah, it is at this day one of the most important cities there. ‘It is situated,’ says he, ‘in the open plain, and is at present the last inhabited place in the southeast extremity of the Houran; it was formerly the capital of the Arabia Provincia, and is now, including its ruins, the largest town in the Houran. It is of an oval shape, its greatest length being from east to west; its circumference is three quarters of an hour. It was anciently encompassed with a thick wall, which gave it the reputation of great strength Many parts of this wall, especially on the west side, remain; it was constructed of stones of moderate size, strongly cemented together. The south, and southeast quarters are covered with ruins of private dwellings, the walls Of many of which are still standing, but the roofs are fallen in. The style of building seems to have been similar to that observed in all the other ancient towns of the Houran. On the west side are springs of fresh water, of which I counted five beyond the precincts of the town, and six within the walls; their waters unite with a rivulet whose source is on the northwest side, within the town, and which loses itself in the southern plain at several hours’ distance; it is called by the Arabs, El Djeheir. The principal ruins of Bozrah are the following: A square building which within is circular, and has many arches and niches in the wall.

The diameter of the arounda is four paces; its roof has fallen in, but the walls are entire. It appears to have been a Greek church. An oblong square building, called by the natives Deir Boheiry, or the Monastery of the priest Boheiry. The gate of an ancient house com municating with the ruins of an edifice, the only remains of which is a large semicircular vault. The great mosque of Bozrah, which is certainly coeval with the first era of Mahometanism, and is commonly ascribed to Omar el Khattah. The walls of the mosque are covered with a fine coat of plaster, upon which are many Curie inscriptions in bas-relief, running all round the wall The remains of a temple, situated on the side of a long street which runs across the whole town, and terminates at the western gate,’ etc. Of these, and other magnificent ruins of temples, theaters, and palaces, all attesting its former importance, Burckhardt has given a copious description in his Travels in Syria, pp. 226-235, Quarto Ed. LoRd. 1822.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Is filled with blood; shall drink its fill of blood. The metaphor is here taken from a great glutton or drunkard, who is almost insatiable with meat and drink.

With the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: by, lambs, and goats, and rams, he means people of all ranks and conditions, high and low, rich and poor. A sacrifice; so he calleth this bloody work, because it was done by God’s command, and for his honour; and therefore was a service acceptable to him.

Bozrah; a chief city of Edom, Isa 63:1; Jer 49:13, and a type of those cities which should be most opposite and mischievous to God’s people.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The sword of the Lord is filled; or, glutted (Lowth). The tense is "the perfect of prophetic certainty." It is made fat with fatness. "Fed, as it were, on the fat of sacrifices". (see Lev_3:3, Lev_3:4, Lev_3:9, Lev_3:10, 15 7:3, etc.) Lambs... goats... rams. The lesser cattle represent the lower classes of those about to be slain, while the unicorns" and bullocks" of ver. 7 represent the upper classes the great men and leaders. The Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah. This Bozrah, one of the principal cities of Idumaea, is to be distinguished from "Bozrah of Moab," which was known to the Romans as "Bostra." It lay in the hilly country to the south-cast of the Dead Sea, about thirty-five miles north of Petra, and was one of the earliest settlements of the descendants of Esau, being mentioned as a well-known place in. (Gen_34:3) The threats here uttered against it are repeated by Jeremiah, (Jer_49:13) who says that "Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; all the cities thereof i.e. the dependent cities shall be perpetual wastes." Bozrah is probably identified with the modern El-Busaireh, a village of about fifty houses, occupying a site in the position above indicated, amid ruins which seem to be those of a considerable city (Burckhardt, "Syria," p. 407; Robinson, "Researches in Palestine," vol. 2. pp. 570, 571).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The sword - The metaphor is taken from a great glutton, who is almost insatiable. Rams - By lambs, and goats, and rams, he means people of all ranks and conditions, high and low, rich and poor. Bozrah - A chief city of Edom, and a type of those cities which should be most opposite to God's people.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

“A sword (is) to Jehovah (or Jehovah has a sword); it is full of blood.” The genitive construction (the sword of Jehovah), although not ungrammatical, is not to be assumed without necessity. “It is smeared with fat.” The allusion is to fat and blood as the animal substances offered in sacrifice. With the blood of lambs and goats, mentioned as well-known sacrificial animals, “with the fat of the kidneys (or the kidney-fat) of rams,” mentioned either as remarkable for fatness or as a parallel expression to the foregoing clause. “For there is to Jehovah (or Jehovah has) a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.” Bozrah was an ancient city of Edom, perhaps the same with the modern Busaireh, a village and castle in Arabia Petraea south-east of the Dead Sea.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

lambs and goats princes and governors.

in Bozrah It is from the land of Moab, but since it supplied a king for Edom, as it is stated (Gen. 36:33): “And Jobab son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead,” it will, therefore, suffer with them. This is found in Pesikta.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

The sword of the Lord. The divine decree.

הודשנה Is made fat. Many think it is a form composed of the Hophal and Hithpael, but wrongly; it is an irregular form; it is derived from דשן to be fat; comp. דשן fat (30:23).

כרים Lambs. Comp. Deut. 32:14. — The nobles are figuratively called lambs; comp. אילי מואב the chiefs of Moab.

Bozrah. According to some it is the name of the town now called Constantinople; this is impossible, because since the foundation of that town, there have not yet elapsed a thousand years; Bozrah is a province in Edom.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.